Wired has an interested story about a new Wiki’esk movement to try and clean up congress. The idea is that by getting the web masses to track down who’s doing what, we as a society will be better informed about the rediculous spending habits of our Congressman and Congresswomen.

The Change Congress website is set up to help identify which members of Congress are gaming the system. The idea is to get every Congressmen/women to sign a petition saying that they support the following four items:

1. No money from lobbyists or PACs
2. Vote to end earmarks
3. Support publicly-financed campaigns
4. Support reform to increase Congressional transparency

The hope is that once everyone is on board with these four ideas, we will have a more transparent and less corrupt government. Although I’m absolutely for all of these ideas, I am a bit skeptical that this movement will take off. It assumes that Congressmen/women will give up all their free lunches (stand up only) just like that. I love the idea, but worry that it won’t pick up much steam.

Good luck though!

There’s a very interesting visualization of color names over at Dolores Labs Blog. The idea is that they asked a large number of respondents (N = 237) to give names to various colors (10,000 in all). They then mapped those names to a color wheel and got what you see above.

It’s an interesting use of user-generated data to facilitate understanding. By surveying “real people,” the responses are not based on any kind of normative assumptions about color names, but rather on what people actually use to describe them. I did something similar with emotional valence for words for my own research…maybe I’ll blog about that some day.

In any case, check out the full post (including the data) over at Dolores Labs Blog.

And make sure you check out the color label explorer which lets you browse for different words.

This is possibly the best toy a dog could ever have.

I love how the dog only starts running once the mechanism pulls back the rubber band. Smart dog.

Due to a myriad of reasons, I recently ended a relatively long (1+ years) relationship with my now x-girlfriend. I have no intentions of regaling you with stories of a broken heart, but instead wish to offer some advice on how to get over a failed relationship as quickly as possible.

Although I am not a “relationship expert,” I do have a way of bouncing back faster than most people I know. After some reflection, I realized that I am able to do that for the following 7 reasons:

1. Remove all keepsakes as fast as humanly possible:

The problem with mourning a lost relationship is that we tend to focus on all the good experiences and forget all the bad ones. Who ever says to themselves: “I really miss all the those times he/she pissed me off.” No, instead we employee an unfortunate selective memory and remember all the great shared moments from the relationship.

That’s why it’s critical to put away (throw out?) every single keepsake, photograph, and letter you have ever received from your x. This is important because those keepsakes are all likely to remind you of the positive aspects of the relationship, and not the negatives (no one keeps a photograph of the time when your x yelled at you). If you can, throw them away. They’re not going to be useful at any point in the future…they’ll just make you sad. Avoid the memory, and avoid the sadness.

2. De-friend him\her.

If you use any kind of social networking website (Facebook, MySpace, whatever) immediately de-friend your x. The worst thing that could happen is that you sign on to Facebook and see a new picture of your x having a good time with his/her friends (or, worse yet, a new love interest). The key here is to get him/her out of sight and thus out of mind. Remember, any memory cue is likely to result in memories of how great it was, and not what led to the eventual break up.

3. Delete him\her from your buddy list.

If you use instant messaging software regularly (e.g. AIM, MSM, Yahoo, ICQ, etc…) make sure to delete your x from your buddy list. Again, the goal here is to minimize all memory cues. If you see your x signed on you may be strong enough to avoid IMing him/her, but you are absolutely incapable of avoiding that memory from popping back into your head and causing you grief.

4. Get a hair cut.

Remember how he/she used to play with your hair? Every time you look in the mirror and see your hair, you have a chance of being reminded of that experience. Get a hair cut, and cut that memory away (sorry for the awful pun). This is related to the next point…

5. Do something new.

If your relationship was of any decent length, do something that you’ve never done before…especially something that you’ve never done with your x. Going to the same movie theater, bar, restaurant, or club will again spark memories of the past. Take a chance on something you’ve never done before and there will be no chance of remembering your x.

6. Exercise.

There are countless reasons to exercise after any kind of hardship, but the top two are that you will feel better about yourself and you might meet some new people (see the next suggestion). While we’re not entirely sure why it does so, exercise leads to decreased levels of depression and overall increases in positive mood. Do it and your body (and heart) will thank you. As for the new people…anything that isn’t related to your old relationship will help prevent those pesky selective memories from creeping up on you (see the next suggestion).

7. Make some new friends.

I don’t suggest giving up your old friends, but at least in the immediate aftermath of a break up, those old friends will trigger thoughts of your x, again, leading to grief. Also, you’re far less likely to talk about your x with new people (who wants to hear about all that anyway) than with your closest friends. Although you need the support of a best-friend, they are likely to sustain the grief, rather than relieve it.

Instead, try and make some new friends who never even knew your x. Hell, go crazy and combine this piece of advice with the last two. For example, join a running club and hang out with your fellow runners afterwards. You’ll feel better from exercising while doing something new and meeting new people!

As you probably gathered, the central point here is to avoid any and all memory cues of your x. The better you can pull that off, the sooner you will get out of the post break up rut.

Good luck!

A new take on an old joke: